Do without…

I heard that the people responsible for this place have also opened a chicken rice shop somewhere opposite their supermarket so the other day, I drove over to have a look. It turned out to be something like just another coffee shop with the chicken rice stall on one side and a kampua noodle stall on the other but that place sure was so very congested and since I could not find a parking space close by, I decided to go elsewhere.

There is this coffee shop round the corner that I have been to a number of times before and I remember they had a very nice stall selling all those roast meat and stuff and I had had their noodles before – the big KL Hokkien mee kind tossed in what I felt was like the konlou mee in Sabah. However, when we got there, it appeared that the stall had been replaced by this one…

…and they did not have noodles on their menu. Ah well, I thought, since we were already there, we might as well give it a try to see if it was any good.

I ordered this bowl of yong tau foo (RM9.00)…

…from the stall behind it for the soup mainly as usually at those chicken rice stalls, they will give you some very bland, quite tasteless, very diluted salted vegetable soup with the chicken claws inside and I am never fond of that.

I would say it is cheaper to order by the sets as one would get at least half a dozen fish balls, two lady’s fingers, two brinjal, two bitter gourd, one chili and one fried bean curd all stuffed with the very nice fish paste plus the tang hoon (glass noodles), seaweed and green vegetables. It certainly would cost a lot more to order the RM5.00 set, just the fish balls, tang hoon and seaweed and then, pick what you want from what is available…

However, as a matter of fact, we could have done jolly well without it as the complimentary soup…

…that came from the aforementioned stall was very very nice, their corn soup with a bit of it on the cob and pieces of white radish/daikon.

The steamed chicken…

…was very nice and the siew yoke (roast pork)…

…as well. I liked it a lot and I would say it could have an edge over what had so far been my favourite in town and was definitely way better than the one here. I do not read Mandarin so perhaps somebody can check the prices on the menu in front of the stall (in the first photograph) and tell me how much they are selling this per kilo here?

I did not quite enjoy the char siew (barbecued meat)…

…especially with that dark, thick and very sweet sauce all over it. It did not seem so bad with the chicken nor with the stewed eggs…

…that I also ordered but the next time I come here, I would definitely ask them not to pour it over everything. They can serve it in a saucer or a little bowl if they want and I can dip the stuff in it as and when I choose. I could jolly well do without any dips and sauces usually unless something does not taste nice and doing that would help make it a little bit more palatable.

Well, if anyone is interested in checking this place out, it is at Sing Long Cafe (2.292604,111.836029) in the area of shops behind the Rejang Medical Centre, located directly opposite the nursing college (Kolej ITA). For some reason or other, the coffee shop people have seen it fitting to remove the shop signs outside so you would not see the name if you are driving past – there is a small sign above the entrance to the shop but I do not think it is visible from the road.

21 thoughts on “Do without…”

They used to have huge boards up front and along the side with the name of the shop but last I saw, the paint was peeling off, poor quality. I heard our municipal council wanted to charge every shop by per square metre for putting up the signs…so all the more reason for them to take the signs down. They still have one small one above one side of the entrance to the shop – you will see it in tomorrow’s post…but with the blinds down, it would not be visible from the road.

Thank you! Certainly is cheaper than that place in yesterday’s post, the roast pork…and the chicken too! I remember at my regular place chicken is RM30 but duck is the same, RM45.

Now, next question…how much exactly is RM1 kg? I think RM50 is ok, cooked especially – considering that if you buy 1 kg of pork (I hear it is between RM20-30 here, not too sure) and the fat will melt, the juices will flow and the whole slab will shrink, I do not think you will have 1 kg left once you’re done. Plus the work involved!!! Post on that coming up real soon.

I think 1 kg means the weight of the pork after being roasted. Before that the weight of the raw pork should be more but how much more. You cooked this just recently so did you weigh the before and after – raw pork vs roasted pork?

I do like the look of all of those veggies in the soup. I’ve never been a fan of fish balls however. I guess it’s the texture mostly, along with not being too sure of what exactly they’re made of that doesn’t take my fancy. Have you ever made your own fish balls?

Yes, not too difficult especially now that the fishmongers will debone and fillet the fish (mackerel is the best for this) for you, only need to chop and mince it really well till it becomes a paste but some people would go and pound it in a mortar and pestle to make it more springy.

Those at the supermarkets are all flour – you would know when you boil them and they grow into the size of tennis balls. With good pure fish balls, nothing of the sort will happen…plus those would contain a lot of msg and other seasonings and preservatives. We have local made ones too but I do not think they taste very nice.

I also had yong taufu for lunch on Monday.. Price per piece is RM1.30.. Market price is like that now.. We tried not to order fishballs, not worth it, imagine a fishball is also RM1.30, fried brinjals/sui kow is also RM1.30.. Better go for the bigger piece one, hehehehe *kiasu*

So much cheaper here, eh? And even cheaper if we order by the set, no need to choose individual items…plus it is very nice too, as nice as all the nice ones I have had elsewhere. Value for money!

Everything looks great and I like that bowl of yong tau foo & stewed eggs. Yumzzz!!!

Any nice yong tau foo in Kuching? Never seen any around. So far all I ever had would be the ones in KL or Penang – this one here is just as good, maybe even better…and of course, it is cheaper. One bonus point already!

In the first place, having dark sauce over steamed chicken is a bit unusual. The sauce that was poured over the steamed chicken and stewed eggs is the same sauce that was poured over the char siew? That seems a bit strange! Coz char siew sauce should be meant for the char siew only and stewed eggs would have been stewed in its own sauce too.

I think it is the same, that is why I did not like it and asked them not to do that the second time I went there. My regular place, the one that I liked – they would have different sauces for the char siew & BBQ ribs, the roast chicken…and the roast duck and none for the siew yoke. I also did not like and would ask them not to pour the sauces on the meat every time I ate there – I want to enjoy the taste of each one of them as it is, will only resort to sauces when things do not taste nice…in which case I probably will never go again…like the one in yesterday’s post.

I think the char siew and chicken could do without that black sweet sauce. I am not too fond of it either. Just last week, I tapau some rice, chicken and char siew. The shop assistant poured a similar sauce on top before I could stop her. It was too sweet and not to my liking. Next time I must remember to tell them no sauce.

I think that is the reason why my girl does not like char siew – the sweetness. At my regular place, they will give the sauce separately in a plastic bag if we tapao the meat home. I use it to fry rice sometimes and my girl still would not touch it. Somehow, she just does not like char siew sauce.